focus on TURKEY

Barnaby Eales believes independents should take a fresh look at a country where the winemaking scene is changing

Eastern promise How demand is slowly building for Turkish wines

The popularity of Turkish restaurants in the UK has given the country’s wines plenty of on-trade exposure, but they remain pretty much invisible in the independent off-trade.

Yet Turkey’s dazzling plethora of indigenous grape varieties and styles offers plenty of opportunity for indies looking to build difference into their ranges.

The aromatic profile of the white grape Narince and Pinot Noir-esque Kalecik Karasi both make for food-friendly varietals.

There’s joy to be found in blends too. The vibrant and fleshy Büyülübağ Vedat Millor 2018, imported by Gama UK, brings the structured, bold tannins of the Bogazkere grape together with the soft fruitiness of Okuzgozu.

Bath-based Novel Wines reports interest in producers such as Kayra and Chamlija, with by-the-glass sales playing an important part in converting customers. Novel quotes repeat purchase rates on bottles of Turkish wine of 35% to 40%, outstripping any other wines on its shelves.

Specialist Turkish wine importers Winehouse Warwick and Taste Turkey both talk about increased demand among the trade and consumers, with interest sparked both by holidays in Turkey and dining experiences in restaurants in the UK.

This year has already seen the arrival of one new Turkish wine specialist on the retail landscape, with the coffee/wine shop Dharma Coffee opening in Hove and Richmond, west London. It is hosting Turkish wine tastings and has plans to sell online.

On a visit to Winehouse Warwick, I tasted new wine releases from Chamlija, including Turkey’s first Assyrtiko, an outstanding wine with lush, bright flavours of lime, cucumber, and a river-long finish.

Turkish reds were once viewed as indulgently-oaky, to suit the domestic market, but Chamlija’s Marcel Biron Below: Late afternoon in Istanbul

Left: Pruning at Kavaklidere Below: Street coffee in Istanbul

2020 is far from that, its perfumed spice and silky tannins a characteristic of the indigenous grape variety Papazkarasi, which the producer has reintroduced to the hills around Thrace in the west of the country, where it planted vines in 2010.

“I have waited 10 years to get this quality,” says owner Mustafa Camlica.

Alp Törüner, owner of Büyülübağ, has been making wine on the island of Avsa in the Marmara Sea, off Istanbul, since 2005.

For reds, like the island’s native Ada Karasi variety, Törüner uses slow maceration, gentle extraction, no enzymes

Turkish winemaking is becoming more geared to suit the palates of contemporary, international drinkers, with American, French, and Italian consultants playing a part

and, often, wild yeasts, to make softer wines. When making fresh and fruity white wines from native grapes, Törüner abstains from using oak to allow the flavours and aromatic profile to shine.

Chamlija’s winemaker Selin Özdemir Baran is one of several women winemakers making fine wines from specific plots of vines found at high altitudes across the diverse, mountainous regions of Turkey.

Turkish winemaking in general is becoming more geared to suit the palates of contemporary, international drinkers, with American, French, and Italian consultants playing a part in viticulture and production.

Smaller, quality wineries have emerged and the big guns of Doluca and Kavaklidere have developed their own ranges around native grapes. Turkey has the fifth largest vineyard area in the world and is thought to be home to between 800 and 1,200 varieties.

The country has a lot going for it in terms of product, but in difficult times there are plenty of obstacles for it overcome if we’re to see more Turkish wine in the UK off-trade.

Government support for exporters is thin. Having hit producers with a ban on alcohol promotion and advertising in 2013, it piled on a near 50% increase in a “special alcohol consumption” tax this year. VAT and excise duty are already high and inflation hit 61% in March.

A 44% fall in the value of the lira against the dollar hasn’t translated into a big increase in exports, as producers often trade in other currencies.

With no public aid to promote wines, Turkish producers are at a disadvantage against those from, say, Greece or Georgia, whose government offers substantial support to export and promote wines.

But that shouldn’t put off retailers looking for unusual wines that already have some on-trade traction from the Turkish restaurant boom.